A major retrospective of work by Wakefield-born modernist sculptor Barbara Hepworth – the first to be shown in London for half a century – will open at Tate Britain this Wednesday 24 June. As one of the few female artists to achieve international prominence in direct carving and abstractionism, the retrospective emphasises Hepworth’s often overlooked prominence in the art world. The exhibition features over 100 carvings and bronzes, ranging from Hepworth’s earliest surviving carvings from the 20s up to her famed post-war large-scale sculptures. Sat proudly alongside work by her predecessors Henry Moore and Jacob Epstein, the exhibition highlights the different contexts and spaces in which Hepworth developed and presented her work, from the studio to the landscape.
Hepworth was hell-bent on utopianism, and together with her second husband Ben Nicholson, she visited the Parisian studios of Arp, Brancusi, Mondrian and Picasso, and begun creating works stylistically in dialogue with them. Retreating to their home in Hampstead, the couple lived out a Fourier-esque daydream, during which time Nicholson created rarely seen textiles, paintings and drawings that also feature in the retrospective. Photo albums compiled by Hepworth and Nicholson give an intimate insight into the two artists and their work, demonstrating a shared idea of life integrated with art.
Barbara Hepworth: Sculpture for a Modern World is at the Tate Britain 24 June – 25 October 2015.
Credits
Text Samira Larouci.
Photo-collage with Helicoids in Sphere in the entrance hall of flats designed by Alfred and Emil Roth and Marcel Breuer at Doldertal, Zurich 1939 © the Hepworth Photograph Collection.